Tech President: NCAA reform "probably biggest in quite some time"

MICHAEL MAROT

Thursday

Oct 27, 2011 at 6:39 PM

INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA is giving college sports a whole new look.

On Thursday, the Division I Board of Directors approved a package of sweeping reforms that gives conferences the option of adding more money to scholarship offers, schools the opportunity to award scholarships for multiple years, imposes tougher academic standards on recruits and changes the summer basketball recruiting model.

"I think this is probably the biggest sort of reform in our NCAA rules in quite some time," Texas Tech President Guy Bailey told the Avalanche-Journal. "I thought this may have been the most productive meeting I have attended since I've been on the board. We got a lot done, and a lot of that will be very positive for the future of college athletes."

It was one of the busiest board meetings in history, and it was all by design.

Just 2½ months after NCAA President Mark Emmert told school leaders they could not wait to clean up college sports, university presidents passed four landmark measures.

Conferences will now vote on whether to add $2,000 in spending money to scholarship offers. Previously, scholarships covered the costs of tuition, room and board, books and fees. But Emmert came out earlier this week in favor of increasing the allowable money, which the NCAA calls full cost-of-attendance.

Bailey is the Big 12 Conference representative on the NCAA Board of Directors and attended the meeting in Indianapolis. He said he worries the measure to enhance athletes' scholarships will be misunderstood, but he said their aid will just be brought into line with what goes to their fellow students.

Full cost-of-attendance considerations already are taken into account when awarding financial aid for regular students, Bailey said. In addition to books, tuition, fees and housing, he said, financial aid packages include "a little bit of additional money for things like transportation and laundry and so forth."

"It has not been permissible to use that cost-of-attendance (consideration) in doing scholarship packages for student-athletes," Bailey said. "What this does is the cost-of-attendance thing rectifies this discrepancy."

However, Bailey draws the line there. He's not in favor of athletes getting a cut of the revenue from sources such as television contracts and ticket sales.

"No, no," he said. "I advocate eliminating the discrepancy between how we do other financial packages and those we do for athletes, but I don't advocate pay for play or anything like that, and don't believe any of my colleagues on the board do either. I saw no sentiment for that."

BCS leagues are expected to quickly approve the changes, but it's unclear how many other conferences can afford it. All additional funding in men's sports would have to be matched equally in women's sports because of Title IX rules.

Individual schools also will have the option of awarding scholarships on a multiple-year basis or keeping the current model, which is done year-by-year. Critics contend the move is long overdue.

"The coach can cancel those (annual scholarships) for any reason, and the reason usually is they find a prettier girl to bring to the dance," said Ohio University professor David Ridpath, past president of The Drake Group, an NCAA watchdog. "If you're Frank Beamer or Nick Saban, they make a lot of money and they should be able to coach that kid up. I will tell you this from personal experience: It happens all the time. The way it's set up, the kids have no recourse. You just have to notify them by July 30th every year."

The board also decided to phase in the new Academic Progress Rate cutline over four years. In August, presidents approved increasing the cutline from the current 900 to 930. Schools that fail to meet the benchmark will be ineligible for postseason play.

"That's a significant increase," Bailey said, "but I think all of our programs (at Tech) will be very competitive there."

On Thursday, the board approved a measure to use 900 starting in 2012-13. The cutline will increase to 930 in the fourth year. It also adopted a measure to include the rule in bowl licensing agreements, meaning it would apply to the 120-member Football Bowl Subdivision - the only sport for which the NCAA does not sanction a postseason tourney.

In addition, the board agreed to increase eligibility requirements for incoming freshmen and junior college transfers. Both groups needed a 2.0 GPA to be eligible. Now, high school grads will need to maintain a 2.3 GPA in the 16 core courses and take 10 of those core classes before their senior year. Junior college players will have to maintain a 2.5 GPA and the NCAA will limit the number of physical education credits that will count toward eligibility.

Bailey is a strong supporter of boosting the academic requirements.

"The curriculum you take in high school is the best predictor of academic success," he said, "and so strengthening core-curriculum requirements is crucial.

"There'll be plenty of time for people to make adjustments. I think the end result of that is the success of our students, which is already pretty good, will be even better."

The board also adopted a new summer basketball recruiting model.

Under the new measure, coaches would get four evaluation days in April and 12 in July. Previously, April was a dead period and coaches had 20 evaluation days in July. Coaches also will be permitted more contact with their own players during the summer and will benefit by the elimination of a text messaging ban.

Jim Haney, executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, said coaches support the changes.

"Oh yes, I think the feedback from our coaches has been very positive," he said. "I do see some challenges to evaluate in April, and it does reduce what can be done in July."

Lady Raiders coach Kristy Curry didn't object to the reforms.

"The number one reason they are student-athletes is to get their education first," Curry said. "We as coaches need to stand behind what our message is in recruiting. With me, it's the books come before basketball. I think those programs should be rewarded that put basketball first."

Proposals the NCAA's Board of Directors approved at its quarterly meeting Thursday in Indianapolis:

» Gave each conference the option of adding $2,000 per scholarship toward the full cost of attendance, or money beyond that supplied to cover tuition, room and board, books and fees. Schools that agree to expand scholarship costs will have to provide an equal amount of the extra money to women's athletes because of Title IX rules.

» Gave individual schools the choice of awarding scholarships on a multiyear basis instead of annually. Scholarships could not be revoked based on athletic performance. Multiyear scholarships would cover athletes for the maximum amount of time they have remaining eligibility (incoming freshmen would have four or five years; transfers would have shorter lengths).

» Tied academic performance to postseason play. Beginning in 2012-13, teams must hit 900 on the Academic Progress Rate over four years or have an average of 930 over the two most recent years to be eligible for postseason play. In 2014-15, teams must have a four-year score of 930 or a 940 average in the two most recent years. In 2015-16, everybody has to hit 930, no exceptions. There will be waivers and appeals, though they will be kept to a minimum. The board also agreed to include the APR cutline in bowl licensing agreements, making it enforceable in football, too. Schools that miss the APR cutline could face reductions in practice time, game reductions, coaching suspensions, scholarship reductions and restricted NCAA membership.

» Imposed tougher academic standards for incoming freshmen and junior college transfers. Beginning in August 2012, high school seniors will need a 2.3 GPA in 16 core courses, instead of the current 2.0 GPA, and must complete 10 of those classes before their senior year. Junior college transfers would need a 2.5 GPA and can count only two physical education credits toward eligibility. Students that meet the current standards but not the new ones will be given an "academic redshirt" year in which they will be on scholarship and can practice with the team but cannot travel or participate in games.

» Instituted a new summer basketball recruiting model. Instead of having 20 evaluation days in July and none in April, coaches will have four evaluation days in April and 12 in July. In addition, coaches will be allowed more contact with their players during the summer, with details to be worked out. The change also means coaches can make unlimited calls or send unlimited text messages to prep recruits after June 15 at the end of their sophomore year.

» Endorsed a working group's model to edit the NCAA's massive rulebook and focus on broad integrity questions rather than rules such as the size of permissible envelopes to mail information to recruits. A formal proposal is expected in April.

» Received an update from another working group that is working on the penalty structure for infractions. The group intends to propose four categories of infractions, instead of the current two, and to establish guidelines for sanctions based on each set of violations. The group is expected to make recommendations in January, with a final vote possibly coming next October.

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